CHAPTER XV
Lost in the desert--Gibson's dying advice--Giles meets Gibson--A fountainin the desert--A terrible fix--Giles regains his camp--Gibson'seffects--Mysterious tracks--A treasured possession--A perfectparadise--Grape vines a failure--A trained cockatoo--An extraordinaryfestival--My theory of the "ghosts."
After the funeral his wife followed out the usual native conventions. Shecovered herself with pipeclay for about one month. She also mourned andhowled for the prescribed three days, and gashed her head with stoneknives, until the blood poured down her face. Gibson's body was notburied in the earth, but embalmed with clay and leaves, and laid on arock-shelf in a cave.
The general belief was that Gibson had merely gone back to the SpiritLand from whence he had come, and that, as he was a great and good man,he would return to earth in the form of a bird--perhaps an ibis, whichwas very high indeed. I must say I never attached very much importanceto what he said, even in his sane moments, because he was obviously a manof low intelligence and no culture. If I remember rightly, he told methat the expedition to which he was attached left Adelaide with theobject of going overland to Fremantle. It was thoroughly well equipped,and for a long time everything went well with the party. One day, whilstsome of them were off exploring on their own account, he lost himself.
He rather thought that the sun must have affected his brain even then,because he didn't try to find his companions that night, but went tosleep quite contentedly under a tree. He realised the horror of hisposition keenly enough the next morning, however, and rode mile aftermile without halting for food or water, in the hope of quickly regaininghis friends at the chief camp. But night stole down upon him once more,and he was still a lonely wanderer, half delirious with thirst; thesupply he had carried with him had long since given out.
Next morning, when he roused himself, he found that his horse hadwandered away and got lost. After this he had only a vague recollectionof what happened. Prompted by some strange, unaccountable impulse, heset out on a hopeless search for water, and went walking on and on untilall recollection faded away, and he remembered no more. How long he hadbeen lost when I found him he could not say, because he knew absolutelynothing whatever about his rescue. So far as I remember, he was atypical specimen of the Australian pioneer--a man of fine physique, witha full beard and a frank, but unintelligent, countenance. He was perhapsfive feet nine inches in height, and about thirty years of age. When Itold him the story of my adventures he was full of earnest sympathy forme, and told me that if ever I intended leaving those regions forcivilisation again, my best plan would be to steer more south-east, as itwas in that direction that Adelaide lay.
He also informed me that the great trans-Continental telegraph wire wasbeing constructed from north to south. This he advised me to strike andfollow to civilisation.
I may be permitted a little digression here to give a few extracts fromGiles's book, "Australia Twice Traversed" (Sampson Low & Company), forthis contains the version of the leader of the expedition himself as tothe circumstances under which Gibson was lost. In all, it seems, Gilesmade five exploring expeditions into and through Central South Australiaand Western Australia from 1872 to 1876. Speaking of his secondexpedition, Mr. Giles says: "I had informed my friend, Baron Von Mueller,by wire from the Charlotte Waters Telegraph station, of the failure andbreak-up of my first expedition, and he set to work and obtained newfunds for me to continue my labours. I reached Adelaide late in January1873, and got my party together. We left early in March of 1873, andjourneyed leisurely up-country to Beltana, then past the Finnis Springsto the Gregory. We then journeyed up to the Peake, where we werewelcomed by Messrs. Bagot at the Cattle Station, and Mr. Blood of theTelegraph Department. Here we fixed up all our packs, sold Bagot thewaggon, and bought horses and other things. We now had twentypack-horses and four riding-horses."
We next come to the introduction of Gibson. "Here a short young manaccosted me, and asked me if I didn't remember him. He said he was'Alf.' I thought I knew his face, but I thought it was at the Peake thatI had seen him; but he said, 'Oh, no! Don't you remember Alf, withBagot's sheep at the north-west bend of the Murray? My name's AlfGibson, and I want to go out with you.' I said, 'Well, can you shoe? Canyou ride? Can you starve? Can you go without water? And how would youlike to be speared by the blacks?' He said he could do everything I hadmentioned, and he wasn't afraid of the blacks. He was not a man I wouldhave picked out of a mob, but men were scarce, and he seemed so anxiousto come, so I agreed to take him.
"Thus, the expedition consisted of four persons--myself (Ernest Giles),Mr. William Henry Tietkins, Alf Gibson, and James Andrews; with twenty-four horses and two little dogs. On Monday, 4th August, we finally leftthe encampment."
Now here is the passage in which Mr. Giles describes his dramatic partingwith Gibson. It will be found in the chapter marked "20th April to 21stMay 1874": "Gibson and I departed for the West. I rode the 'Fair Maid ofPerth.' I gave Gibson the big ambling horse, 'Badger,' and we packed thebig cob with a pair of water-bags that contained twenty gallons. As werode away, I was telling Gibson about various exploring expeditions andtheir fate, and he said, 'How is it that, in all these exploringexpeditions, a lot of people go and die?' He said, 'I shouldn't like todie in this part of the country, anyhow.'
"We presently had a meal of smoked horse. It was late when we encamped,and the horses were much in want of water,--especially the big cob, whokept coming up to the camp all night and trying to get at our water-bags.We had one small water-bag hung in a tree.
"I didn't think of that until my mare came straight up to it and took itin her teeth, forcing out the cork, and sending the water up, which wewere both dying to drink, in a beautiful jet. Gibson was now very sorryhe had exchanged 'Badger' for the cob, as he found the latter very dulland heavy to get along. There had been a hot wind from the north allday, and the following morning (the 23rd of April), there was a moststrange dampness in the air, and I had a vague feeling, such as must havebeen felt by augurs and seers of old, who trembled as they told events tocome; _for this was the last day on which I ever saw Gibson_.
"As Gibson came along after me, he called out that his horse was going todie. The hills to the west were twenty-five to thirty miles away, and Ihad to give up trying to reach them. How I longed for a camel! Gibson'shorse was now so bad as to place both of us in a great dilemma. Weturned back in our tracks, when the cob refused to carry his rider anyfarther, and tried to lie down. We drove him another mile on foot, anddown he fell to die. My mare, the 'Fair Maid of Perth,' was only toowilling to return, but she had now to carry Gibson's saddle and things,and away we went, walking and riding in turns of one half-hour each.
"When we got back to about thirty miles from a place which I had named'The Kegs,' I shouted to Gibson, who was riding, to stop until I walkedup to him. By this time we had hardly a pint of water left between us.
"We here finished the supply, and I then said, as I could not speakbefore, 'Look here, Gibson, you see we are in a most terrible fix, withonly one horse. Only one can ride, and one must remain behind. I shallremain; and now listen to me. If the mare does not get water soon, shewill die; therefore, ride right on; get to the Kegs, if possible,to-night, and give her water. Now that the cob is dead, there'll be allthe more water for her. Early to-morrow you will sight the Rawlinson, attwenty-five miles from the Kegs. Stick to the tracks and never leavethem. Leave as much water in one keg for me as you can afford, afterwatering the mare and filling up your own bags; and, remember, I dependupon you to bring me relief.'
"Gibson said if he had a compass he thought he could go better by night.I knew he didn't understand anything about compasses, as I had oftentried to explain them to him. The one I had was a Gregory's Patent, of atotally different construction from ordinary instruments of the kind, andI was loth to part with it, as it was the only one I had. However, as hewas so anxious for it, I gave it to him, and away he went. I sent on
efinal shout after him to stick to the tracks, and he said, 'All right'and the mare carried him out of sight almost instantly.
"Gibson had left me with a little over two gallons of water, which Icould have drunk in half-an-hour. All the food I had was eleven sticksof dirty, sandy, smoked horse, averaging about an ounce and a half each.
"On the first of May, as I afterwards found out, at one o'clock in themorning, I staggered into the camp, and awoke Mr. Tietkins at daylight.He glared at me as if I had been one risen from the dead. I asked him ifhe had seen Gibson. It was nine days since I last saw him. The nextthing was to find Gibson's remains. It was the 6th of May when we gotback to where he had left the right line. As long as he had remained onthe other horses' tracks it was practicable enough to follow him, but thewretched man had left them and gone away in a far more southerlydirection, having the most difficult sand-hills to cross at right angles.We found he had burnt a patch of spinifex where he had left the otherhorses' tracks.
"Whether he had made any mistake in steering by the compass or not it isimpossible to say; but instead of going east, as he should have done, heactually went south, or very near it.
"I was sorry to think that the unfortunate man's last sensible momentsmust have been embittered by the thought that, as he had lost himself inthe capacity of messenger for my relief, I, too, must necessarily fall avictim to his mishap.
"I called this terrible region, lying between the Rawlinson Range and thenext permanent water that may eventually be found to the north, 'Gibson'sDesert,'--after this first white victim to its horrors.
"In looking over Gibson's few effects, Mr. Tietkins and I found an oldpocket-book, a drinking-song, and a certificate of his marriage. He hadnever told us he was married."
And now to resume my own narrative. You will remember that I had settleddown for a considerable time on the shores of the lagoon, where I hadmade everything around me as comfortable as possible. Yamba had nodifficulty whatever in keeping us well supplied with roots andvegetables; and as kangaroos, opossums, snakes, and rats abounded, we hadan ample supply of meat, and the lagoon could always be relied upon toprovide us with excellent fish. The country itself was beautiful in theextreme, with stately mountains, broad, fertile valleys, extensiveforests,--and, above all, plenty of water. The general mode of livingamong the natives was much the same as that prevailing among the blacksin my own home at Cambridge Gulf,--although these latter were a vastlysuperior race in point of physique, war weapons, and generalintelligence. The people I now found myself among were of somewhat smallstature, with very low foreheads, protruding chins, high cheek-bones, andlarge mouths. Their most noteworthy characteristic was their extremechildishness, which was especially displayed on those occasions when Igave an acrobatic performance. My skill with the bow and arrow was, asusual, a never-ending source of astonishment. I was, in fact, creditedwith such remarkable powers that all my ingenuity had sometimes to bebrought into play to accomplish, or to pretend to accomplish, the thingsexpected of me. I knew that I must never fail in anything I undertook.
In the interior the natives never seemed to grow very plump, but had amore or less spare, not to say emaciated, appearance compared with thetribes near the coast. For one thing, food is not so easily obtainable,nor is it so nourishing. Moreover, the natives had to go very longdistances to procure it.
Besides the low, receding forehead and protruding chin I have alreadyhinted at as characteristic of the inland tribes, I also noticed thatthese people had abnormally large feet. Also, the beards of the men werenot nearly so full or luxuriant as those of the blacks at Cambridge Gulf.The average height of the lagoon tribe was little more than five feet.For myself, I am about five feet seven and a half inches in height, andtherefore I stalked about among them like a giant.
Now that Gibson was dead I decided to move my home farther north, andeventually settled down with my family (two children--a boy and agirl--had been born to me during my residence on the shores of thelagoon) in a beautiful mountainous and tropical region 200 or 300 milesto the north. It was my intention only to have made a temporary stayhere, but other ties came, and my little ones were by no means strongenough to undertake any such formidable journey as I had incontemplation. I also made the fatal mistake of trying to bring myoffspring up differently from the other savage children. But I mustrelate here an incident that happened on our journey north. Yamba cameto me one day positively quivering with excitement and terror, and saidshe had found some strange tracks, apparently of some enormous beast--amonster so fearful as to be quite beyond her knowledge.
She took me to the spot and pointed out the mysterious tracks, which Isaw at once were those of camels. I do not know why I decided to followthem, because they must have been some months old. Probably, Ireflected, I might be able to pick up something on the tracks which wouldbe of use to me. At any rate, we did follow the tracks for severaldays--perhaps a fortnight--and found on the way many old meat-tins, whichafterwards came in useful as water vessels. One day, however, I pouncedupon an illustrated newspaper--a copy of the Sydney _Town and CountryJournal_, bearing some date, I think in 1875 or 1876. It was a completecopy with the outer cover. I remember it contained some pictures ofhorse-racing--I believe at Paramatta; but the "Long Lost Relative" columninterested me most, for the very moment I found the paper I sat down inthe bush and began to read this part with great eagerness. I could readEnglish fairly well by this time, and as Yamba was also tolerablyfamiliar with the language, I read the paper aloud to her. I cannot sayshe altogether understood what she heard, but she saw that I wasintensely interested and delighted, and so she was quite content to staythere and listen. You will observe that in all cases, the very fact that_I_ was pleased was enough for Yamba, who never once wavered in herfidelity and affection. Altogether we spent some weeks following upthese tracks, but, of course, never came up with the caravan of camels,which must have been some months ahead of us. Yamba at length appearedto be a good deal wearied at my persistency in following up the tracks inthis way; but after all, was it not merely killing time?--a mild sort ofsensation which served to break the eternal monotony that sometimesthreatened to crush me.
How I treasured that soiled copy of the _Town and Country_--as it isfamiliarly called in Sydney! I read and re-read it, and then read it allover again until I think I could have repeated every line of it by heart,even to the advertisements. Among the latter, by the way, was oneinserted apparently by an anxious mother seeking information concerning along-lost son; and this pathetic paragraph set me wondering about my ownmother. "Well," I thought, "she at least has no need to advertise, and Ihave the satisfaction of knowing that she must by this time be quitereconciled to my loss, and have given me up as dead long ago." Strangelyenough, this thought quite reconciled me to my exile. In fact, I thankedProvidence that my disappearance had been so complete and so prolonged asto leave not the slightest cause for doubt or hope on the part of any ofmy relatives. Had I for a moment imagined that my mother was stillcherishing hopes of seeing me again some day, and that she was undergoingagonies of mental suspense and worry on my behalf, I think I would haverisked everything to reach her. But I knew quite well that she must haveheard of the loss of the _Veielland_, and long ago resigned herself tothe certainty of my death. I can never hope to describe the curiousdelight with which I perused my precious newspaper. I showed thepictures in it to my children and the natives, and they were more thandelighted,--especially with the pictures of horses in the race atParamatta. In the course of time the sheets of paper began to get torn,and then I made a pretty durable cover out of kangaroo hide. Thus thewhole of my library consisted of my Anglo-French Testament, and the copyof the _Town and Country Journal_.
But I have purposely kept until the end the most important thing inconnection with this strangely-found periodical. The very first eagerand feverish reading gave me an extraordinary shock, which actuallythreatened my reason! In a prominent place in the journal I came acrossthe foll
owing passage: "_The Deputies of Alsace and Lorraine have refusedto vote in the German Reichstag_."
Now, knowing nothing whatever of the sanguinary war of 1870, or of thealterations in the map of Europe which it entailed, this passage filledme with startled amazement. I read it over and over again, getting morebewildered each time. "The Deputies of Alsace and Lorraine have refusedto vote in the German Reichstag!" "But--good heavens!" I almost screamedto myself, "_what_ were the Alsace and Lorraine Deputies doing in theGerman Parliament at all?" I turned the matter over and over in my mind,and at last, finding that I was getting worked up into a state ofdangerous excitement, I threw the paper from me and walked away. Ithought over the matter again, and so utterly incomprehensible did itappear to me that I thought I must be mistaken--that my eyes must havedeceived me. Accordingly I ran back and picked the paper up a secondtime, and there, sure enough, was the same passage. In vain did I seekfor any sane explanation, and at last I somehow got it into my head thatthe appearance of the printed characters must be due to a kind of mentalobliquity, and that I must be rapidly going mad! Even Yamba could notsympathise with me, because the matter was one which I never could havemade her understand. I tried to put this strange puzzle out of my head,but again and again the accursed and torturing passage would ring in myears until I nearly went crazy. But I presently put the thing firmlyfrom me, and resolved to think no more about it.
It is not an exaggeration to describe my mountain home in the centre ofthe continent as a perfect paradise. The grasses and ferns there grew toa prodigious height, and there were magnificent forests of white gum andeucalyptus. Down in the valley I built a spacious house--the largest thenatives had ever seen. It was perhaps twenty feet long, sixteen feet toeighteen feet wide, and about ten feet high. The interior was decoratedwith ferns, war implements, the skins of various animals, and last--butby no means least--the "sword" of the great sawfish I had killed in thehaunted lagoon. This house contained no fireplace, because all thecooking was done in the open air. The walls were built of rough logs,the crevices being filled in with earth taken from ant-hills. I havejust said that _I_ built the house. This is, perhaps, not strictlycorrect. It was Yamba and the other women-folk who actually carried outthe work, under my supervision. Here it is necessary to explain that Idid not dare to do much manual labour, because it would have beenconsidered undignified on my part. I really did not want the house; but,strangely enough, I felt much more comfortable when it was built andfurnished, because, after all, it was a source of infinite satisfactionto me to feel that I had a _home_ I could call my own. I had grown veryweary of living like an animal in the bush, and lying down to sleep atnight on the bare ground. It was this same consideration of "home" thatinduced me to build a little hut for poor Gibson.
The floor of my house was two or three feet above the ground in order toescape the ravages of the rats. There was only one storey, of course,and the whole was divided into two rooms--one as a kind of sitting-roomand the other as a bedroom. The former I fitted out with home-madetables and chairs (I had become pretty expert from my experience with thegirls); and each day fresh eucalyptus leaves were strewed about, partlyfor cleanliness, and partly because the odour kept away the mosquitoes. Ialso built another house about two days' tramp up the mountains, and tothis we usually resorted in the very hot weather.
Now here I have a curious confession to make. As the months glided intoyears, and I reviewed the whole of my strange life since the days when Iwent pearling with Jensen, the thought began gradually to steal into mymind, "Why not wait until civilisation COMES TO YOU--as it must do intime? Why weary yourself any more with incessant struggles to get backto the world--especially when you are so comfortable here?" Gradually,then, I settled down and was made absolute chief over a tribe of perhapsfive hundred souls. Besides this, my fame spread abroad into thesurrounding country, and at every new moon I held a sort of informalreception, which was attended by deputations of tribesmen for hundreds ofmiles around. My own tribe already possessed a chieftain of their ownbut my position was one of even greater influence than his. Moreover, Iwas appointed to it without having to undergo the painful ceremonies thatinitiation entails. My immunity in this respect was of course owing tomy supposed great powers, and the belief that I was a returned spirit. Iwas always present at tribal and war councils, and also had someauthority over other tribes.
I adopted every device I could think of to make my dwelling home-like,and I even journeyed many miles in a NNE. direction, to procure cuttingsof grape vines I had seen; but I must say that this at any rate waslabour in vain, because I never improved upon the quality of the wildgrapes, which had a sharp, acid flavour, that affected the throatsomewhat unpleasantly until one got used to them.
When I speak of my "mountain home," it must not be supposed that Iremained in one place. As a matter of fact, in accordance with my usualpractice, I took long excursions in different directions extending overweeks and even months at a time. On these occasions I always took withme a kind of nut, which, when eaten, endowed one with remarkable powersof vitality and endurance. Since my return to civilisation I have heardof the Kola nut, but cannot say whether the substance used by theAustralian aboriginal is the same or not. I remember we generallyroasted ours, and ate it as we tramped along. In the course of mynumerous journeys abroad I blazed or marked a great number of trees; myusual mark being an oval, in or underneath which I generally carved theletter "L." I seldom met with hostile natives in this region, but when Idid my mysterious bow and arrows generally sufficed to impress them. Bythe way, I never introduced the bow as a weapon among the blacks, andthey, on their part, never tried to imitate me. They are a conservativerace, and are perfectly satisfied with their own time-honoured weapons.
Wild geese and ducks were plentiful in those regions, and there was aninfinite variety of game. From this you will gather that our daily farewas both ample and luxurious.
And we had pets; I remember I once caught a live cockatoo, and trainedhim to help me in my hunting expeditions. I taught him a few Englishphrases, such as "Good-morning," and "How are you?"; and he would perchhimself on a tree and attract great numbers of his kind around him by hisincessant chattering. I would then knock over as many as I wanted bymeans of my bow and arrows. At this time, indeed, I had quite amenagerie of animals, including a tame kangaroo. Naturally enough, I hadample leisure to study the ethnology of my people. I soon made thediscovery that my blacks were intensely spiritualistic; and once a yearthey held a festival which, when described, will, I am afraid, tax thecredulity of my readers. The festival I refer to was held "when the sunwas born again,"--_i.e._, soon after the shortest day of the year, whichwould be sometime in June. On these occasions the adult warriors fromfar and near assembled at a certain spot, and after a course offestivities, sat down to an extraordinary _seance_ conducted bywomen--very old, wizened witches--who apparently possessed occult powers,and were held in great veneration. These witches are usually maintainedat the expense of the tribe. The office, however, does not necessarilydescend from mother to daughter, it being only women credited withsupernatural powers who can claim the position.
After the great _corroboree_ the people would squat on the ground, theold men and warriors in front, the women behind, and the children behindthem. The whole congregation was arranged in the form of a crescent, inthe centre of which a large fire would be set burning. Some of thewarriors would then start chanting, and their monotonous sing-song wouldpresently be taken up by the rest of the gathering, to the accompanimentof much swaying of heads and beating of hands and thighs. The youngwarriors then went out into the open and commenced to dance.
I may as well describe in detail the first of these extraordinaryfestivals which I witnessed. The men chanted and danced themselves intoa perfect frenzy, which was still further increased by the appearance ofthree or four witches who suddenly rose up before the fire. They werevery old and haggard-looking creatures, with skins like shriv
elledparchment; they had scanty, dishevelled hair, and piercing, beady eyes.They were not ornamented in any way, and seemed more like skeletons froma tomb than human beings. After they had gyrated wildly round the firefor a short time, the chant suddenly ceased, and the witches fellprostrate upon the ground, calling out as they did so the names of somedeparted chiefs. A deathly silence then fell on the assembled gathering,and all eyes were turned towards the wreaths of smoke that were ascendinginto the evening sky. The witches presently renewed their plaintivecries and exhortations, and at length I was amazed to see strange shadowyforms shaping themselves in the smoke. At first they were not verydistinct, but gradually they assumed the form of human beings, and thenthe blacks readily recognised them as one or other of their long-departedchiefs--estimable men always and great fighters. The baser sort neverput in an appearance.
Now the first two or three times I saw this weird and fantastic ceremony,I thought the apparitions were the result of mere trickery.
But when I saw them year after year, I came to the conclusion that theymust be placed in the category of those things which are beyond the kenof our philosophy. I might say that no one was allowed to approachsufficiently close to touch the "ghosts,"--if such they can be termed;and probably even if permission had been granted, the blacks would havebeen in too great a state of terror to have availed themselves of it.
Each of these _seances_ lasted twenty minutes or half-an-hour, and weremainly conducted in silence. While the apparitions were visible, thewitches remained prostrate, and the people looked on quite spellbound.Gradually the phantoms would melt away again in the smoke, and vanishfrom sight, after which the assembly would disperse in silence. By nextmorning all the invited blacks would have gone off to their respectivehomes. The witches, as I afterwards learnt, lived alone in caves; andthat they possessed wonderful powers of prophecy was evidenced in my owncase, because they told me when I came among them that I would still bemany years with their people, but I would eventually return to my ownkind. The warriors, too, invariably consulted these oracles beforedeparting on hunting or fighting expeditions, and religiously followedtheir advice.